[4] McLean, who played as an inside forward, began his football career with the local junior club Larkhall Thistle.
[4] He was the third member of the family to play for Larkhall, after his father – who appeared for them in a Scottish Junior Cup semi-final in 1932 – and his brother Willie.
In his first season with Dundee, McLean scored eight goals, and he became their principal threat in attack after Charlie Cooke was sold to Chelsea in April 1966.
[8] He was not always popular with the Dundee supporters; McLean later attributed that to him having had to follow higher-class players such as Cooke and Alan Gilzean into their team.
After making a total of 474 appearances and scoring 170 goals in his career, McLean retired from playing in 1970 and returned to Dundee as a coach in July of that year.
[4] McLean immediately started a co-ordinated youth policy which was to produce many fine young players over the two decades which followed; he had personally visited Ralph Milne, John Holt, and Davie Dodds to encourage them to sign for United rather than for Celtic, Aston Villa, and rivals Dundee respectively.
[9] In the short term, he used his knowledge of the Scottish scene to buy experienced players who would allow him to re-shape both the squad and the style of play in line with his approach to coaching.
Despite the progress he had made, few believed that McLean and United were potential Premier Division champions, Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen at that time were an emerging force in addition to the Old Firm.
In the 1981–82 UEFA Cup United defeated AS Monaco and Borussia Mönchengladbach, but exited to Yugoslav side Radnicki Nis.
[4] At this time McLean was also acting as assistant manager to Jock Stein with the Scotland national team, including at the 1982 World Cup.
[12] His family were happily settled in the Broughty Ferry area of Dundee, and in June 1984 he turned down an offer to manage English club Newcastle United.
[4] Three years later McLean took the team to a European final in the UEFA Cup, defeating Barcelona and Borussia Mönchengladbach en route.
[14] For the rest of his managerial career McLean continued to secure United's high standing in domestic football, finishing no lower than fifth between 1976–77 and 1992–93.
He remained as chairman after resigning as manager, stepping down from this role in October 2000 following an attack on BBC Scotland reporter John Barnes.
[19] Still a majority shareholder, McLean sold his 42% stake to Eddie Thompson in October 2002, severing his Tannadice ties permanently after more than 30 years.
[25] As of August 2018, a group of United supporters were organising a fundraising scheme in order to build a statue of McLean outside Tannadice.
[27][28] McLean was unable to attend a performance himself due to ill health, but it received the support of his wife Doris and their family.
"[29] McLean's family, in a statement published by United, added: "Jim was a much-loved husband, father, brother, uncle and father-in-law, and we will all sadly miss him.